2008 Washington gubernatorial election
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The gubernatorial election in Washington, 2008 will elect the Governor of Washington on November 4, 2008. With the emergence from the August 19 primary of Republican Dino Rossi and incumbent Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire, the 2008 election will be a rematch between the candidates from the 2004 election, which was the closest election in Washington State history, Rossi led Christine Gregoire after two machine counts by 261 votes and 47 votes, respectively, before losing a final manual count by 129 votes (for a total of three counts). Washington State law only allowed two recounts.
Dates and deadlines[1]
| Date | Year | Event | Reference | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 6 | 2008 | Filing Deadline | [2] | |
| August 19 | 2008 | State Primary | [2] | Same date as general primaries for other offices |
| November 4 | 2008 | General Election | [2] | Same date as Presidential election and other offices |
Candidates
| Candidate | Stated Party Preference | Website | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christine Gregoire | Prefers Democratic Party | cw | Incumbent Governor |
| Dino Rossi | Prefers G.O.P. Party | cw | ex-state senator, 2004 gubernatorial nominee |
| Will Baker | Prefers Reform Party | cw | Out; Lost primary |
| Duff Badgley | Prefers Green Party | cw | Out; Lost primary |
| John W. Aiken, Jr. | Prefers Republican Party | cw | Out; Lost primary |
| Christian Pierre Joubert | Prefers Democratic Party | cw | Out; Lost primary |
| Chris Tudor | States No Party Preference | cw | Out; Lost primary |
| Javier O. Lopez | Prefers Republican Party | cw | Out; Lost primary |
| Mohammad Hasan Said | States No Party Preference | cw | Out; Lost primary |
| James White | Prefers Independent Party | cw | Out; Lost primary |
| Source: Secretary of State | |||
Controversy over Rossi party preference
Under the changes to election law made by the passage of Initiative 872, partisan contests are no longer tied to registered parties, but candidates are allowed to indicate an arbitrary "party preference" to appear next to their name on the primary and general election ballots.[3] An extreme example of this occurred in the 40th District race for state senator, where candidate Timothy Stoddard indicated a preference for the "Salmon Yoga" party.[4]
Republican candidate Dino Rossi listed his party preference as "G.O.P." instead of the traditional party name "Republican". Critics of Rossi contended that the choice of party name was an attempt to distance himself from any negative opinions associated with the Republican Party.[5] Rossi's campaign argued that the difference was insignificant, saying voters are already aware that the terms refer the same party.[6] However, an Elway Research poll taken in August 2008 found that over 25% of registered voters were not aware that the term "GOP" meant the Republican Party.[7]
On September 23, the Washington State Democrats filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State to force the state to list Rossi to on the general election ballot as a Republican instead of with the "GOP Party" label, alleging that the latter is a misrepresentation of his true party affiliation.[8]. A King County Superior Court judge dismissed the suit, saying nothing in state law made the choice of party name illegal, though he acknowledged the potential confusion. Had the lawsuit succeeded, many counties would have had to reprint their ballots, and the already-cast absentee votes of military personnel may have become invalid.[9]
Polling
| Source | Date | Gregoire | Rossi | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rasmussen Reports | October 2, 2008 | 48% | 48% | |
| Survey USA | September 21-22, 2008 | 50% | 48% | 1% |
| Strategic Vision | September 14-16, 2008 | 46% | 48% | 6% |
| Rasmussen Reports | September 10, 2008 | 46% | 52% | |
| Survey USA | September 5-7, 2008 | 47% | 48% | 2% |
| SurveyUSA | August 11-12, 2008 | 50% | 48% | 1% |
| Rasmussen Reports | August 6, 2008 | 47% | 43% | - |
| Strategic Vision | July 25-27, 2008 | 47% | 45% | 8% |
| SurveyUSA | July 13-15, 2008 | 49% | 46% | 3% |
| Moore Infomation | July 9-10, 2008 | 45% | 45% | 9% |
| Rasmussen Reports | July 9, 2008 | 49% | 43% | - |
| Elway Poll | June 18-22, 2008 | 47% | 39% | - |
| Rasmussen Reports | June 9, 2008 | 50% | 43% | - |
| SurveyUSA | June 9, 2008 | 50% | 47% | 1% |
| Rasmussen Reports | May 12, 2008 | 52% | 41% | - |
| Elway Poll | April 21-22, 2008 | 43% | 38% | - |
| SurveyUSA | April 14-16, 2008 | 50% | 46% | 2% |
| SurveyUSA | April 7, 2008 | 48% | 47% | 5% |
| Rasmussen Reports | March 27, 2008 | 47% | 46% | 7% |
| Rasmussen Reports | February 28, 2008 | 46% | 47% | 7% |
| Washington Poll | February 7-18, 2008 | 53.7% | 42.1% | 3.5% |
| Elway Poll | January 3-6, 2008 | 48% | 35% | - |
| Washington Poll | October 22-29, 2007 | 46.8% | 42.4% | 7.3% |
| Strategic Vision | October 5-7, 2007 | 47% | 45% | 8% |
| Strategic Vision | March 24-26, 2006 | 38% | 51% | 11% |
Primary election
The Washington primary election was held 2008-08-19. For the first time, Washington ran a top-two primary, eliminating the "pick a party" primary used since 2004. Unlike traditional primaries, wherein each party with more than one candidate is reduced to a single person to appear on the general election ballot, the system simply reduces the entire crop of candidates from all parties down to the top two vote-getters, resulting in no more than two candidates appearing on the general election ballot for a given position. As a result, candidates from all parties were essentially running against each other. To allow for ideological identification, each candidate in a partisan race was allowed to indicate an arbitrary party preference.[10]
Primary results
While the primary was officially held on August 19, 2008, some counties such as King County allow absentee ballots to be postmarked by that date in order to be valid. As a result, the primary vote tally may not be officially certified until as late as September 9, to allow time for mailed-in ballots to arrive and be counted by the counties. As an increasing number of counties allow, encourage, or mandate mail-in ballots for voters within the county, the number of such ballots can be significant.[11]
The vote tally as of 5:01 PM September 3 is as follows:[12]
| Candidate | Home city | Stated Party preference | Total Votes | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dino Rossi | Sammamish[13] | Prefers G.O.P. Party | 668,176 | 46.34% |
| Will Baker | Tacoma | Prefers Reform Party | 5,200 | 0.36 % |
| Christine Gregoire | Auburn | Prefers Democratic Party | 696,042 | 48.28 % |
| Duff Badgley | Seattle | Prefers Green Party | 9,692 | 0.67 % |
| John W. Aiken, Jr. | Medical Lake | Prefers Republican Party | 21,553 | 1.49 % |
| Christian Pierre Joubert | Edmonds | Prefers Democratic Party | 16,638 | 1.15 % |
| Christopher A. Tudor | Indianola | States No Party Preference | 5,596 | 0.39 % |
| Javier O. Lopez | Lacey | Prefers Republican Party | 4,977 | 0.35 % |
| Mohammad Hasan Said | Ephrata | States No Party Preference | 3,002 | 0.21 % |
| James White | Marysville | Prefers Independent Party | 10,877 | 0.75 % |
| Total | 1,441,753 | 100.00 % | ||
Based on the results of August 20, Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi are the presumptive finalists to appear on the November general election ballot.[14]
Police Guild press conference incident
At an August 7 press conference held by the Seattle Police Officers Guild to declare its endorsement of Rossi, the Guild forcibly removed Kelly Akers, a Gregoire campaign staffer who was filming the event, from the premises. The Rossi campaign reiterated a standing policy to prevent opposing campaigns from filming Rossi's appearances, to deny them the ability to take "attack footage". Rossi's campaign staff includes a cameraman tasked with filming Gregoire appearances.[15]
Debates
Five debates have been scheduled[16] between the Gregoire and Rossi, the candidates in the general election.
| Date | Time | Location | Sponsors |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-09-20 | 9:00 PM | Fisher Plaza (Seattle) | Fisher Communications, League of Women Voters, Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
| 2008-09-25 | 7:30 PM | Semiahmoo Resort (Blaine) | Association of Washington Business |
| 2008-10-01 | 7:00 PM | Capitol Theatre (Yakima) | Yakima Herald-Republic |
| 2008-10-09 | TBD | KSPS-TV Studios (Spokane) | KSPS-TV, Spokane Spokesman-Review |
| 2008-10-15 | TBD | TBD | KING-TV, Seattle Times, NPR |
A possible sixth debate has been proposed for Clark County.[17]
The Gregoire campaign had set aside August 15th for a pre-primary radio debate with Rossi on Seattle NPR station KUOW-FM.[18] Rossi declined to appear, giving Gregoire solo airtime.[19]
General Election
The General Election will coincide with the national general election on November 4. However, with all Washington counties either exclusively or (in the case of Pierce and King counties) predominantly voting via mail-in ballot[20] , many votes may be effectively cast prior to that date. King County, the largest county in the state, and the one which carried Gregoire to victory in 2004, is scheduled to send out overseas absentee ballots on October 5, and resident mail-in ballots on October 17.[21]
References
- ^ Secretary of the State of Washington. "Calendar". Retrieved 2008-05-31.
- ^ a b c Politics1. "Politics 1-Washington". Retrieved 2008-05-31.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "People's Choice Initiative of 2004 (Initiative 872)" (PDF). Washington Office of the Secretary of State. p. 2. Retrieved 2008-08-27. "Definitions" section, paragraph on the term "partisan office".
- ^ "August 19, 2008 Top 2 Primary - Legislative District 40 - State Senator". publisher=Washington Office of the Secretary of State. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
{{cite web}}: Missing pipe in:|work=(help) - ^ Washington political blogger Goldy suggested that Rossi was "too ashamed to have the Republican brand attached to his name." Goldstein, David (2008-06-05). "BREAKING: Dino Rossi quits Republican Party!". HorsesAss.org. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ Roberts, Gregory (2008-06-06). "Rossi not exactly on ballot as Republican". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ The Elway press release to news organizations was reprinted in Mapes, Jeff (2008-08-14). "Washington's current governor's race". Mapes on Politics. The Oregonian. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ Garber, Andrew (2008-09-24). "Democrats sue to make Rossi call himself "Republican" instead of "GOP"". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
- ^ Johnson, Gene (2008-09-26). "Seattle judge OKs ballot with 'GOP' Rossi". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
- ^ "Announcing Washington State's NEW Top 2 Primary" (PDF). Washington Office of the Secretary of State. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ McGann, Chris (2008-08-19). "Top-two primary kicks off today". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ "August 19, 2008 Top 2 Primary - State Executive - Governor". Washington Office of the Secretary of State. 2008-08-28 09:10 PM. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ All candidates' home city information taken from "2008 Primary Voters' Guide". Washington Office of the Secretary of State. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ "Gregoire, Rossi fire first volleys in rematch". KING 5 News. 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ Postman, David (2008-08-12). "Dem cameraman is evicted from Dino Rossi event". Seattle Times. Andrew Garber. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
- ^ Hagey, Jason (2008-09-08). "Debate schedule: Gregoire, Rossi preparing to face-off at least five times". Political Buzz. Tacoma News Tribune. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
- ^ Hagey, Jason (2008-09-26). "Gregoire, Rossi kick off debate schedule tonight". Tacoma News Tribune. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
- ^ Mulick, Chris (2008-08-05). "Gregoire, Rossi plan gubernatorial debates". Tri-City Herald. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
- ^ Connelly, Joel (2008-08-15). "Rossi to NPR: I won't show". Strange Bedfellows. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
- ^ Roberts, Gregory (2008-02-07). "King County delays all-mail voting until 2009". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
- ^ King County. "King County Elections". Retrieved 2008-09-26.
External links
- Elections from the Washington Secretary of State
- Washington Governor candidates at Project Vote Smart
- Washington Governor race from OurCampaigns.com
- Washington Governor race from 2008 Race Tracker
- Campaign contributions from Follow the Money
- Rossi (R) vs Gregoire (D-i) graph of collected poll results from Pollster.com
- Official campaign websites
- Christine Gregoire, Democratic incumbent candidate
- Dino Rossi, Republican candidate
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